Changing
by weirdgirl42
Summary: Part 5 of the “Waiting Series.” It follows "Assuring," “Waiting,” “Learning,” and “Shocking.” You should probably read those first. This takes place right after “Shocking”


**Changing**

"I can't believe I was so careless," Brennan muttered as she stuffed clothing into her suitcase. They were leaving that morning, their weeklong Hawaiian vacation regrettably over. Early that morning, Booth's phone had gone off and Brennan, in a state of half-sleep, had answered it. The called had turned out to be Cullen who was very curious as to how Brennan was answering Booth's phone when she was supposedly in Thailand. He had demanded Booth's presence in his office first thing Monday and hung up with no further conversation.

"Why did I answer with my name?" she lamented. "If I hadn't, he could have just thought I was some trashy woman you picked up on the beach."

From the other side of the bed, where he was packing his own suitcase, Booth glanced up. "Hey, that's my girlfriend you're talking about. She is not trashy." Coming around the bed he wrapped her in his arms so she was leaning back against his chest.

"I hate that term," she said. "It sounds so juvenile."

"Fine, we'll just stick with partners then. As long as you concede that the word now has many new meanings."

"That's acceptable." She pulled away from him, "Especially since we won't be work partners anymore after Monday."

Booth grasped her arm and turned her to face him. She turned but kept her eyes on the floor. "I'm sorry Booth," she whispered. "It's my fault and now you're going to be in trouble and they'll split us up."

"It's not like we could have kept this a secret forever," Booth reasoned. "We've had three months with no one knows but Parker and your dad. I'd say that's pretty impressive considering the people we work with and their ability to figure things out."

"I guess you're right. I just don't want to stop working with you. Even though rationally, I always knew that would be the eventual outcome."

Booth reached down and took her hands in his. "Temperance, look at me." When she finally met his eyes he smiled. "God you're beautiful."

Brennan blushed slightly. "How is that helping?"

He smiled and kissed her forehead. "Here's what's going to happen," he said. "We are going to fly home, pick up Wong Foo's, go to your apartment, and eat in bed. Clothing will be optional. Tomorrow I'm taking Parker to church and then the three of us are going bowling because Parker's been begging to go again ever since the first time when you miraculously hit a seven-ten split. I swear that boy thinks you really are Wonder Woman."

Brennan grinned. Parker had, over the last few months in particular, become one of her favorite people. She loved the time she got to spend with him and had truly come to love Booth's son. And it thrilled her that the little boy had not only accepted their relationship, but seemed to adore her as well.

"Then on Monday," Booth finished, "I will tell Cullen that it's in everybody's best interest to keep us working together. And if he disagrees, I'll request reassignment and make sure they don't stick you with some newbie agent who doesn't know what he's doing."

"Booth no. You can't do that. You love catching bad guys."

"And there are a lot of ways for me to do just that. There are a lot of ways for me to do my job. But there's only one way for me to live my life at this point, and that's with you. You might think it's dopamine and serotonin and pheromones and symmetry. And you might never say it back, but I'm in love with you Temperance. There is nothing in this world I need other than you and Parker in my life. And nothing, not the job or Cullen or the Jeffersonian, is going to keep me from you as long as I can possible manage. Even if I have to quit my job outright."

"You really mean that?"

"Sure," he said, wrapping his arms around her and pulling them closer together until their chests were flush. "I mean come on Bones, it's not like you don't have enough money to support us both. I think I could get used to being a kept man."

Brennan shook her head. "You'd be bored after a week."

"Probably. Hey maybe I'd write a book."

"Oh really?"

"Yeah sure. A spinoff of yours. All about Agent Andy's secret double-life as an amateur rapper/bowling alley owner."

Brennan laughed. "Well that would certainly soar off the shelves."

"Fly Bones," he said before kissing her. "Fly off the shelves."

XXXXXXXXXX

"So, you and I never got to have the father/boyfriend talk."

Booth looked over at Max as they waited on their food order at the bowling alley bar. It had been Parker's idea to invite Brennan's father. The man had enthusiastically agreed to lunch and bowling with the trio. Booth glanced over at the lanes where Bones was helping Parker with his release timing. When the boy finally got a strike, she clapped and praised him like he'd just bowled a 300. Parker's face lit up and he gave her a high five.

"No we didn't Max," he replied. "But you have nothing to worry about because I sure as hell don't want to end up cut open and burned with a coin in my throat."

Max laughed. "No I suppose not." They sat waiting, watching their respective children interact. "You love her a lot." He said it as a statement, not a question.

"More than I thought possible," Booth said without hesitation. "I knew I loved her before we got together and I figured, that was how I'd always feel. But now…"

"Yeah. I know, it's better than you could have imagined." Max twisted the gold band on his left ring finger. "It was like that with Tempe's mother too."

"Do you mind if I ask you something?"

"As long as it's nothing I have to plead the fifth about," Max chuckled.

"What was she like?"

"Ruth?"

Booth nodded. "Bones never talks about her. She talks about what you were like when she was a kid. And about Russ. But not about her mom."

Max sighed. "Ruth. You know we were a lot like you two. Knew each other for years. Grew up together. Got into trouble together. And then one day I looked up and realized I was head over heels. Took months for me to admit it to her. And then when I did, she laughed in my face. But I guess she started looking at me differently too. After a while she told me she felt the same way. And it's like you said, I thought I loved her as much as I ever would, but I was wrong."

"How long before you had Russ?"

"Couple of years. It was like, Ruth became this whole new person. This amazing, loving person who just wanted the best for our son. That desire only got stronger when Tempe was born. It killed Ruth when we left them. I wanted to stay and deal with McVicar but she said no. She said we had to keep the kids safe. It was the only thing that mattered to her. Ruth was, well she was a lot like Russ. Had a knack for getting into trouble even though she was so smart. But she changed when the kids were born. Like Russ has with his girls."

Max took a breath and a sip from the water glass in front of him. "It doesn't surprise me that Tempe won't talk about her mother. It's probably too hard for her. Tempe, she thought the sun rose and set with Ruth. Even when she became a teenager they never went through that phase of hating each other. They were as close as two people could be. Tempe was always so analytical. Never trusted her heart, except with her mother. And now, I suppose, with you."

"And you Max," Booth said as their food arrived. "What she did for you, even though it was brains that figured it out, what she did was all heart. She trusts you. She trusts you not to take off again. And as much as it's your job to threaten me if I hurt her, if you abandon her again it becomes my job to hurt you." He picked up the pizza and walked over to the table where Brennan and Parker were now sitting.

Max collected the drinks and followed, watching how the three of them already seemed like a family. When he sat down, Parker began regaling him of the last frame where he got a strike. Max congratulated the boy and glanced over to where his daughter sat, a look of pride on her face.

Yes, Max thought, his baby girl was changing. And he couldn't be happier.

XXXXXXXXXX

"I've thought about it a lot," Brennan said that night as they sat on opposite sides of the couch, Booth watching an old gangster movie and her reading an anthropology journal.

"Thought about what a lot?"

"If they reassign you, or fire you, I'll start sending Wendell out into the field with whomever your replacement is."

Booth hit the mute button and turned to face her. "You don't have to do that. I know how much you love fieldwork. Hell, you resorted to blackmailing a federal agent to get out there in the first place."

Brennan smiled at the memory. "I'm not saying I would never go into the field, but you're my partner Booth, I don't want another one." She reached over to where his arm rested on the back of the couch and linked their fingers together.

"I don't think what we're doing is wrong," she added. "And if they're going to punish you, then they are going to have to understand that we're a team. The FBI doesn't get me without you."

"Bones are you sure about this?" I'm not going to blame you if you get a new partner. I know you support me, you don't have to do this to prove it.

"Come on Booth," she said, "you know that after a year it wasn't about being in the field."

"What was it about then?"

"You're really going to make me say it?"

"Absolutely."

Brennan shook her head and grinned at his childlike behavior. "It was about working, and being with you."

"Why Bones," he said, his eyes twinkling and reflecting his obvious delight, though his face remained impassive. "I didn't know you cared."

Brennan swatted at him and he caught her hand easily. With a quick tug he pulled her towards him and shifted so that her body was trapped beneath his.

"You know," she said softly, reaching up to trace his brow, "if they fire you, we could just pack up and run away."

Booth grinned down at her. "Oh yeah? Where would we go?"

"Well I just got the advance for my fourth book and settled on the rights for the second movie so we can pretty much go wherever we want. I'm not certain but it's entirely possible I can now buy that hotel we stayed at last week.

Booth chuckled and leaned down to trail kisses along her jaw and neck. "What about Parker?" he said against her skin.

"A couple of networks have been after me to allow a TV series to be made about Kathy. I could sell them the rights and buy a plane whose only purpose is flying Parker back and forth. Or we could just have Rebecca come with us and live nearby."

He knew that she was, at least mostly, kidding. But the fact that she was even voicing a desire to go away with him and make sure his son could be there too made his chest tighten and his soul soar. This was Bones. Workaholic, never enjoys being idle, gave up a year-long Caribbean trip Bones. But she wanted. at least somewhat, to go live a life of leisure with him and his son.

He touched his forehead to hers. "I love that you love my kid."

"He's an easy kid to love," she replied.

Booth watched as a look of understanding washed over her features. It was the look she got when she discovered the cause of death on remains, or figured out a suspect was lying.

"And," she continued, looking past him as though she was really talking to herself, "I love his father." Now she met his eyes and found them full of surprise and what he would later deny were tears. "I love you Booth. I'm sorry it took me so long to say it."

Booth laughed. "What about serotonin and dopamine?"

"I guess I've fallen victim to them too."

Sitting up off the couch, Booth took her hand and all but dragged her to the bedroom.

Much later, as they lay together on the bed with their heads at the foot, Booth propped himself up on his elbow. "What made you say it?" he asked.

"Nothing made me. I didn't feel an obligation. I realized it was true and proceeded to tell you."

"Fine," he said, giving her a wry smile and kissing her nose. "What made you realize it was true?"

Brennan exhaled slowly. "I was lying there, and I remembered something my mother told me. I was maybe eight or nine. And I asked her what being in love meant. How it was different than loving someone like your brother or a friend."

Booth lay back down beside her. He was mesmerized by her words. He had always loved the sound of her voice. from the moment they'd met. But hearing her speak about her past, and especially about her family, it was the same voice only softer. More reminiscent of the Temperance he had come to know outside of work.

"What she told me," Brennan continued, "is that normal love is when you try to be the person someone thinks you are. It's when you like yourself better through someone else's eyes. And being in love is when, not only is the first part true, but you can look at the other person and know that if you couldn't see yourself through them, you'd only be half of who you are."

"So you got your poetic flare from your mother then?" Booth said, kissing the side of her head."

"Well I certainly didn't get it from my father," Brennan replied with a gentle laugh. Then her face turned serious again. "I didn't really understand what she meant until recently. I think I realized sometime in Hawaii that the past few years I've been trying to be the person you think I am because I like that person better than how I saw myself. And I know that if you were gone, I'd only be half here. So who am I to argue with my mother's definition?"

Booth didn't know what to say. So he settled for leaning in and capturing her lips with his. Then he pulled covers around them and they began to drift off to sleep, not caring that Booth had to face Cullen in just a few hours or that they were facing the wrong way on the bed. Just before he fell asleep, Booth whispered, "I like myself better through your eyes too."

**The End**

_I decided to end it here. There will be one more part dealing with Cullen finding out and what happens as a result. Thanks for reading. Please review!_


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